General Manager Ned Colletti said after the season he wanted to bring Choate back, which made perfect sense given he was an effective left-handed, situational reliever for the Dodgers and that their only returning veteran lefty in the bullpen was Scott Elbert, who’s coming off elbow surgery.

But the left-handed reliever market was thinned considerably Wednesday when Choate signed with the Cards and the Angels acquired Sean Burnett for two years at $8 million.

Choate, 36, had a 4.05 earned-run average in 38 games for the Dodgers. His ERA is particularly misleading since he normally came in to face one left-handed batter. He gave up only one run in his last 13 appearances.

Despite his years, there are not a lot of innings on that arm. In a major-league high 80 overall games last season, he pitched only 38 2/3 innings.